Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar review: Luv Ranjan serves chaos

Luv Ranjan’s production template is back, this time with a younger, more playful cast. Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar, directed by Anuj Saini, wants to bottle the chaos of first love, and the regret that follows when it stays unfinished.

The set-up is proudly familiar. Three Delhi friends, Vedant (Kunal Vaid), Gautam (Sparsh Walia) and Shivi (Sargun Kaur Luthra), get inebriated one evening and decide to head back to their old college reunion in the hills. Vedant wants another shot at Simran (Sakshi Vaidya); Gautam wants to confess to Gehna (Alisha Chopra); Shivi has spent too long thinking about Karan (Tushar Chhibber).

The Luv Ranjan playbook, lighter this time

Luv Ranjan’s films usually run on male banter, romantic brinkmanship and a heavy dose of attraction. Here the ingredients are intact: friends, alcohol, old flames and frustration. But the register is lighter. This is not a film trying to provoke; it is a film trying to make the familiar feel fun enough for a weekend.

Where the film actually works

For all the clichés, the second half switches gears. Instead of sticking with the obvious rom-com beats, Anuj Saini commits to a comedy of errors: people act recklessly, misunderstandings multiply, and the humour turns physical and occasionally curse-laden. The dialogue lands more often than it misses, which keeps the film afloat.

There is even a knowingly DDLJ-flavoured frame: a couple dangles off a bus for a kiss, exactly the kind of filmy throwback the picture is aiming for. That moment sums up the tone, half tribute and half parody, entirely an excuse to have fun.

The cast: a spark worth watching

• Sparsh Walia gets the best-designed character and makes the most of it; his comic ease has a young Kartik Aaryan quality.
• Kunal Vaid, Sakshi Vaidya, Sargun Kaur Luthra and Tushar Chhibber are all watchable, though no one gets a truly memorable character.
• A Rajkummar Rao cameo and a Kartik Aaryan flash add small surprises for attentive viewers.

Why the new faces matter

The film is unapologetically a launchpad. With a cast of newcomers carrying the main narrative, Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar works as a reminder that Hindi cinema’s comedy pipeline can still mint fresh faces. Sparsh Walia’s resemblance to a younger Kartik Aaryan will get attention, but what stands out is timing, not imitation.

For audiences, that matters because star-driven romcoms have thinned. If a modest production can wring genuine laughs from situational chaos and new energy, it gives the genre a little room to breathe.

Should you watch it?

This is not great cinema, and it does not pretend otherwise. The premise is old, and the first half is uneven. The film’s young ensemble and its comedy-of-errors second half carry it far enough to work as a light guilty pleasure. Go in expecting a fun time rather than a reinvention and you will likely leave satisfied.

Source: Filmfare